Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a lawsuit on Monday against BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management firm with approximately $9 trillion in assets under management.
The lawsuit accuses BlackRock of leveraging its influence over companies in which it holds shares to pressure management to pursue goals such as achieving “net-zero” carbon emissions and aligning their policies with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreements.
It also claims that BlackRock misled investors by asserting that they could achieve higher returns through ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investments.
AG Skrmetti accuses the company of being “at the forefront of using aggressive strategies to promote environmental, social, and governance controversies in all the assets it manages.”